MSc in Comparative Social Policy
University of Oxford, Oxford, UK – 2015
Visiting Student
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada – 2014
BA (Honours) in Political Science
Laurentian University, Sudbury/Barrie, Canada – 2014
Quantitative research, primarily with R
Qualitative research and analysis
Data visualisation, both static and interactive
Broadcast and print media interviews
Freelance August 2020 – Present
Disability Rights UK June 2016 – August 2020
Responsible for policy work on employment issues, and research on any additional issues prioritised by Disability Rights UK. This included writing briefing papers for internal and external use, responding to consultations, monitoring government policy developments and work from other sources.
Produced statistical briefing papers and presentations based on my analysis of a range of sources, using national and international surveys and administrative data.
Primary researcher and annual report author evaluating “Bridge to Work”, a City Bridge Trust-funded programme of training, work experience and employer engagement to increase young disabled people’s employment. The evaluation focuses on changes in employer attitudes and overall impact on participant employment.
Lead researcher and programme manager for project on £40,000 research project on young people’s attitudes to disability, conducted with the Centre for Education and Youth. I recruited and managed a steering group of young disabled people to determine the focus of the project and provide feedback on our research questions and findings.
Undertook small, mixed-method research projects on healthcare inequalities, the effectiveness of peer support interventions, attitudes to inclusive education, and the potential impact of different disability benefit reforms.
Delivering training and presenting research work to external audiences.
Testified before the House of Lords Economic Affairs Select Committee as part of their inquiry into the economics of the Universal Credit welfare system.
Queen’s University, Bader International Study Centre May 2019
London Business School June 2018 – October 2018
Analysed speeches in Hansard to identify differences in the topics and language style between male and female Labour MPs, and between female Labour MPs selected through open or all-women shortlists.
Designed a methodology using structured topic models, and wrote out my methods and produced data visuals and statistical tables for use in a future paper on the subject.
The Future Leaders Trust October 2015 – June 2016
Conducted primary and secondary analysis of school performance data, disseminated results internally through presentations and internal reports, and externally through press releases.
Co-authored the first original research report published by the Trust, responsible for data collection and methodology, and contributed to the writing of the report.
Laurentian University October 2012 – April 2013
Primary researcher and annual report author January 2018 – December 2023
Funder: City Bridge Trust £100,000
Lead researcher and report author February 2020 – March 2020
Funder: NHS Personalised Care Group £10,000
Data analyst and report author December 2019 – February 2020
Funder: Nuffield Foundation £5,000
Principle investigator December 2018 – June 2019
Funder: European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities €4,000
Lead researcher and report author April 2018 – August 2019
Funder: Disability Research on Independent Living & Learning (DRILL) £40,000
Odell, E. (2017). Lonely schools: The relationship between geographic isolation and academic attainment. Educational Research, 59(3), 257–272. DOI: 10.1080/00131881.2017.1339285
Hale, C., Benstead, S., Lyus, J., Odell, E., & Ruddock, A. (2020). Energy Impairment and Disability Inclusion. The Centre for Welfare Reform. centreforwelfarereform.org/uploads/attachment/681/energy-impairment-and-disability-inclusion.pdf
Odell, E. (2020). Getting it right the first time: Financial penalties to improve disability benefit assessments. LawArXiv. DOI: 10.31228/osf.io/jksyp
Odell, E. (2019). Special or Unique: Young People’s Attitudes to Disability. Disability Rights UK. drilluk.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/DR-UK-Special-or-Unique-August-2019.pdf
Aston, J., Bennett, L., Murphy, H., Odell, E., & Stevens, T. (2019). External evaluation of the Bridge to Work Programme. City Bridge Trust. citybridgetrust.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Bridge-to-Work-Year-1-report.pdf
Odell, E. (2018). Disability, Rights and Vulnerability in British Parliamentary Debate. SocArXiv. DOI: 10.31235/osf.io/tqf5j
Theobald, K., & Odell, E. (2015). Isolated schools: Out on a limb. Future Leaders Trust. future-leaders.org.uk/documents/195/Isolated_schools_Out_on_a_limb.pdf
Odell, E. (2020). threesixtygiving: Download Charitable Grants from the ‘360Giving’ Platform. github.com/evanodell/threesixtygiving
Odell, E. (2019). guardianapi: Access the ‘Guardian’ newspaper open data API. github.com/evanodell/guardianapi
Odell, E., & Tierney, N. (2019). ukpolice: Download Data on UK Police and Crime. github.com/evanodell/ukpolice
Odell, E. (2019). cqcr: Access ‘Care Quality Commission’ Data. github.com/evanodell/cqcr
Odell, E. (2018). nomisr: Access Nomis UK Labour Market Data. Journal of Open Source Software, 3(27), 859. DOI: 10.21105/joss.00859
Odell, E. (2018). fixerapi: An R Client for the ‘Fixer.io’ Currency API. github.com/evanodell/fixerapi
Odell, E. (2018). refuge: Locate Trans and Intersex-Friendly Toilets. github.com/evanodell/refuge
Odell, E. (2017). hansard: Accessing Westminster Parliament Data. github.com/evanodell/hansard
Odell, E. (2017). mnis: Easy Downloading Capabilities for the Members’ Name Information Service. github.com/evanodell/mnis
Odell, E. (2017). parlitools: Tools for Analysing UK Politics. github.com/evanodell/parlitools
Odell, E. (2019). Hansard Speeches V2.6.1 [dataset]. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.780985